TURKEY: Tourists feel the heat of tense Israeli-Turkish ties

Record ID: 396505

  • Title: TURKEY: Tourists feel the heat of tense Israeli-Turkish ties
  • Date: 6th September 2011
  • Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (SEPTEMBER 5, 2011) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) DEPUTY ISTANBUL GOVERNOR IN CHARGE OF AIRPORT, AHMET AYDIN, SAYING: "According to the principle of mutuality that has been declared to us by our foreign ministry, we are performing the same process on Israeli citizens as they performed on Turkish citizens. We are asking the same questio
  • Embargoed: 21st September 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey, Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics,Travel / Tourism
  • Reuters ID: LVA93263772K6RTEFQC14YZWJVUK
  • Story Text: Israeli passengers said they were segregated and searched at Istanbul airport on Monday (September 5) and Turkish tourists made similar complaints about treatment in Israel, accounts that further stoked a heated feud between the two countries.
    Three days after Turkey expelled Israel's ambassador over Israel's refusal to apologise for a raid that killed nine Turks on a ship trying to break its blockade of Gaza in 2010, visitors from both countries were feeling unwelcome.
    Hayuta Leibovich, an Israeli who manufactures clothes in Turkey, said she and other Israelis in line at passport control at Istanbul's Ataturk airport were told by security officers to stand in a corner of the terminal.
    Leibovich said she usually speeds through the airport's arrival procedures in about 15 minutes during her frequent business trips to Turkey.
    Deputy Istanbul Governor in charge of airport, Ahmet Aydin said, there is no special procedure for Israeli citizens but they are conducting the same process applied by Israeli security in Tel Aviv airport to Turkish citizens.
    "According to the principle of mutuality that has been declared to us by our foreign ministry, we are performing the same process on Israeli citizens as they performed on Turkish citizens. We are asking the same questions as our citizens were asked for 5, 10 up to 15 minutes and then welcoming Israeli citizens to our country," Aydin said.
    Israeli citizens who landed to Istanbul in a second plane at 1300 local (1000g) passed through the passport checkpoints with no additional procedures.
    On Friday (September 2), Turkey -- a former strategic ally of Israel and once a hugely popular vacation spot for Israelis -- froze all military pacts with Israel, kicked out its ambassador and threatened legal sanctions after a United Nations report on the 2010 incident was issued.
    Israel has spurned Turkish demands to apologise for the killings, saying its commandos acted in self-defence after meeting violent resistance from pro-Palestinian activists in a flotilla challenging an Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.
    A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Jerusalem said the Israeli travellers were questioned individually and waited about 90 minutes before their passports were returned and they were released.
    "We don't know what the questioning was about. We are looking for more details. We were told by the Turkish authorities that they were not familiar with the case," the spokesman said.
    An Israeli woman who gave her name only as Orit said she was in transit at Istanbul airport when she and about 20 other Israelis were separated from other passengers.
    "They told us to stand in the corner -- to humiliate us as much as possible," she told Israel Radio.
    Orit said the passengers were taken away for strip searches before being allowed to board a flight to Israel at the last minute. "We were all traumatised," she said.
    There was no immediate comment from Turkish authorities.
    In the Anatolian report, Turkish tourists arriving from Israel said they underwent body searches in Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion airport before being given the go-ahead to leave the country.
    Eyup Ansar Ugur, a Turkish guide who travelled with a group of Turkish tourists who went to Israel during the Ramadan Muslim holiday, said Turkish tourists were singled out and mistreated by Israeli officials with the process taking so long their flight was delayed.
    An unidentified tourist, said the Israelis treated the group "as if we were terrorists".
    Asked about the report, a spokesman for Israel Airports Authority gave no details about the alleged incident, saying that Ben-Gurion security operates in accordance with security requirements and under the guidance of professional authorities.
    Tourism between Israel and Turkey has declined as political tensions have risen.
    In the first five months of 2011, only 30,000 Israeli tourists visited Turkey compared with 72,500 during the same period in 2010. The number of Turkish visitors to Israel fell slightly over the same periods, from around 6,900 to 6,600.
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